Disclaimer: I'm somewhat deviating from my usual rating system and rounding this up to a 4-star review, even though it's closer to a 3.5.
First off, I love the concept: high school boy gets trapped in a game--with the avatar of. .girl.
Which is, you know. Bad. Because it's totally okay to want to, you know, get one of the girls to achieve a higher social rank and whatnot, but being one? Having to put up with the crap that society throws your way?
Definitely not.
And yet, Charlie has no choice. He's Angella of Avernon, along with his adopted brother Martin, and Sharon, whose avatar is Marion. Throughout their adventures, Charlie has to come to grips with this new (alter) reality and try to understand what it means to be a woman, and if it really has to be such a big deal. His attitude's something along the lines of "well, hey, I'm a guy, but I'm sort of a girl, and this is a screwed-up gender bender, and whoa, does that make me a lesbian if I like Sharon, and what about if she likes me back, and what am I going to have to do now with all these traditional gender roles and--wait, I'm confused."
And you start to wonder: is there really that much disparity between genders? Do men have to always be the big, muscular jocks in an attempt to constantly assert their masculinity? Do women always have to remain subdued and feminine? In fact, why the big deal about men and women being so different--just why has the patriarchal society consistently demeaned women throughout the ages?
Charlie wonders about all this. And when he starts to realize that he's still Angella and Sharon/Marion's really attractive, maybe it doesn't matter so much. Maybe gender isn't the determining factor. Maybe it's loving who you love, your gender and the other's gender notwithstanding. And, even though it's not quite the happy ending, there is a sense of finality. All isn't right the world, things are bittersweet, but there is love.
Now, for a few issues:
* I felt that Charlie would have worked better as a 14- or 15-year old. His voice didn't quite sound that old and didn't always mesh right. But, to be fair, I'm picky when it comes to reading and tend to prefer deeper, more introspective books, as long as they don't border on inane pretentiousness.
* Some of the descriptions felt a bit off to me--either they were a series of adjectives (particularly when describing a person), or they felt a little lacking at times (I'm thinking mostly during some of the battle scenes.)
* The climax felt a little deus ex machina--and no, I won't spoil it. After re-reading it, I suppose I could see how it might have played out that way, but it did leave something lacking.
That said, this was a good, quick read with an interesting hook that dealt with some very important issues for the YA audience.